Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight 30 athletes who excelled during the outdoor track season that we didn’t have a chance to write about extensively. We’d love to write about every athlete in South Jersey, but that’s not practical. But we will try to spotlight some who may have gotten overlooked over the past few months. We apologize in advance if we don’t get to you or your son or daughter or an athlete you coach.
Today: Sydney Greenidge, Riverside
Riverside’s Sydney Greenidge had a historic junior year, breaking school records in the 100 and 200, becoming Riverside’s first sectional sprint winner ever and becoming the Rams’ first sectional double winner in more than two decades.
Greenidge came into the season with a PRs of 12.86 and 27.28 from sophomore year, but those quickly went by the wayside. She ran 12.36 at the South Jersey Elite at Delsea the first weekend of May and 25.76 in her first 200, at the BCSL Freedom Division meet at Pennsauken.
She ran well at 200 meters, but her main focus was the 100, and after taking 3rd in a very fast Burlington County Open race in 12.35, she won at the BCSL meet and Cherokee Last Chance Meet before a big 12.06 PR to win the South Jersey Group 1 meet, also at Pennsauken.
That’s 8th-fastest in Burlington County history – and only 6-100ths of a second out of 5th – and fastest ever by a South Jersey Group 1 sprinter, just ahead of Rageana Marigna’s 12.15 for Palmyra in 2008.
She also won the 200 at the South Jersey Group 1 meet in 25.80, becoming the first Riverside girl to double at sectionals since Rose Perry won the shot [43-4 ¼] and discus [122-6] in 2003 at Egg Harbor Township and the first to double on the track in 30 years, since Jen Rafferty won the 1,600 [5:27.7] and 3,200 [11:38.1] at Bridgeton in 1994.
She just missed the FAT meet record in the 100 of 12.03, set in 2002 by Clayton’s Arianna Sharpe, and she became the first Riverside girl to ever win a sectional title at 100 or 200 meters.
Greenidge went on to place 2nd to Ridgefield senior Kylie Castillo in both the 100 and 200 at states. She ran both sprints at Meet of Champions and PR’d in the 200 with a 25.67
Greenidge will be the No. 6 returner in South Jersey in the 100, behind rising juniors Sianni Wynn of Pennsauken [11.36] and Olivia Okaro of Winslow [11.98] and rising seniors Ryan Jennings of Timber Creek [11.33], Jonnelle Lewis of Kingsway [11.90] and Willingboro’s Nester Wea [12.02].
She’s the top returner in New Jersey in Group 1 at both 100 and 200 meters.
Greenidge also ran 61.38 in her only 400 race, long jumped 16-2 and triple jumped 33-2.
11.42 … Michele Glover [Willingboro], 1981
11.61 … Amandi Rhett [Moorestown], 2000
11.82 … Annie Johnson [Shawnee], 2012
11.95 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
12.00 … Andrea Conway [Bordentown], 1986
12.02 … Nester Wea [Willingboro], 2024
12.05 … Anu Ward [Moorestown], 2000
12.06 … Sydney Greenidge [Riverside], 2024
12.07 … Maya Bolden [Willingboro], 2024
12.08 … Kim Hargrove [Willingboro], 1996
12.11 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2009
12.11 … Nia Lawrence [Pemberton], 2012
12.15 … Rageana Marigna [Palmyra], 2008
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 